Drunk British Tourists Disrupt Flight to Crete, Bite Police Officer

Two drunk British tourists, a mother and her daughter, caused mayhem during a flight from Manchester to Heraklion, Crete on Thursday and, upon landing, attacked a Greek police officer.

The unruly behavior of the mother, 55, and daughter, 24, who was also traveling with her 1.5-year-old son was witnessed by the passengers and crew of the Jet2 flight from the British city.

However, when the plane landed at Heraklion, things got out of hand, a report on Greek public television ERT says. The duo ran amok by cursing, kicking, spitting at airport staff, and even biting a police officer who rushed to the scene.

Police sources told ERT, that they had started consuming alcohol before boarding the aircraft and continued to drink during the flight.

Their shouting and cursing disrupted the flight, while they allegedly hit a female passenger. As they did not implement the crew’s recommendations, the Heraklion airport authorities were informed, and when the aircraft landed at 7:50 pm on Thursday, the police were already on the airport runway waiting to arrest them.

At the sight of police, the 24-year-old holding her child tried to escape arrest, but when she was eventually apprehended, she bit the hand of a police officer.

Drunk British tourists escorted to Crete hospital

The duo was in such a bad state that police escorted them to the local hospital to receive treatment. According to the ERT report, doctors “struggled” to bring them back to their senses. “We have never experienced anything like this at the airport,” a police officer told ERT.

The report says that on Friday the duo claimed they do not remember anything that happened the day before.

Police pressed charges against them and the decision of the local prosecutor is expected soon.

Vacationers are being warned about the effect alcohol has on your body while traveling on a plane. Addiction specialist Martin Preston recently compiled a list of things that happen to the body when drinking alcohol on board a flight. These include alcohol being absorbed into the bloodstream more rapidly and a person becoming dehydrated more quickly.

“If you’ve ever [drunk] an alcoholic beverage aboard a flight, you’ve probably noticed that you begin to feel its effects more strongly and quickly than if you were drinking on land.

“The reason for this is not because the alcohol content is higher in drinks on the plane, but that alcohol is absorbed into your bloodstream more quickly, as a result of cabin pressure and lower levels of oxygen in your blood.

“This means that you may feel drunker than you normally would when consuming the same amount of alcohol.”

Britain ranked as Crete’s biggest travel market, with the Greek island recording around 1.2 million visits from British tourists in 2022.

This figure shows a significant increase compared to the previous year and also surpassed the volume of travelers from 2019, prior to the onset of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.